# Is Bernie Sanders the Democratic Front-Runner for 2020? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 13, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190 "2017-07-13T18:52:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190/81 "2017-07-14T17:31:27Z")
Personally, I doubt it. He’s old now. Who knows how he’ll be in 3 more years? As it is, he looks and talks like those guys in the theater box in The Muppet Show. I think if there is still a septuagenarian in the White House in 2020, youth will be an advantage in that campaign. The Democratic bench is deep, I’d prefer that the nomination went to someone who has been a committed Democrat for some time and not a Bernie-come-lately. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190/82 "2017-07-14T17:33:08Z")
> [@pjacks](#): > > As much as I enjoyed hearing that earworm again, I don’t really want to let it go. The Dems seem determined to learn absolutely nothing from 2016, so to preserve my own sanity during the TRUMP presidency I’ll continue to blame the Clintons & their enablers for running the party into the ground. Actually it was the Bernie-bros and the Sandernistas who were the issue. Constantly posting and repeating negative stuff about Clinton, repeating stuff from Rove and the Russians. They cost us the election, and gave us Trump. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190/83 "2017-07-14T19:35:18Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Actually it was the Bernie-bros and the Sandernistas who were the issue. Constantly posting and repeating negative stuff about Clinton, repeating stuff from Rove and the Russians. They cost us the election, and gave us Trump. While I personally knew some Bernie-bros who were guilty of that, I think a good proportion of those posts were started by Russian operatives. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190/84 "2017-07-14T19:37:13Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > While I personally knew some Bernie-bros who were guilty of that, I think a good proportion of those posts were started by Russian operatives. Maybe, but then shared by unsuspecting Bernie-bros. One of them is a freind, I kept asking him- _why post all negative stuff about Clinton, why not some good stuff about Sanders_? ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190/85 "2017-07-14T20:05:57Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > I love the idea of Al Franken. Maybe Bernie could be his running mate to bring in some of those in his base who would otherwise refuse to vote or vote Green. Al Franken is pretty far left, and I think most Bernie fans would enthusiastically embrace him if he were nominated. But he’s only nine years younger than Bernie, and IMO that’s not enough to overcome Bernie’s advantage in experience and proven track record. So Franken is one of the candidates like Warren who have a shot if Bernie doesn’t run, but would be unlikely to beat him in a primary. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190/86 "2017-07-14T20:07:05Z")
No, sorry, Al Franken (my Senator) is NOT ‘far left’. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190/87 "2017-07-14T20:47:05Z")
Can’t post link from my phone, but 30 seconds on Google found something called [govtrack.us](http://govtrack.us) ranking him as the fifth most liberal Senator. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190/88 "2017-07-14T21:54:22Z")
:eek: Dayum. That Overton Window has really shifted right. ☹ I like Franken, but frankly :D, I’d rather see Amy Klobuchar run. I just don’t know that she has it in her. You’ll see that she’s #70 on the scale of most conservative (#1) to most liberal (#100). My nephew is also working for her as an intern this summer. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190/89 "2017-07-14T21:55:48Z")
But I don’t think Franken comes off as a lefty to the general public in the same way that Sanders does. I also think that he _seems_ much younger than Sanders whatever the reality. Perception is everything. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190/90 "2017-07-14T22:03:49Z")
He should. He’s 66 and Sanders is 75. 😛 He also knows how to write and perform and knows his shit. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190/91 "2017-07-14T22:11:13Z")
Yes. He’s very good at public speaking, at least on the various news shows. He’s extremely smart and funny and skewers opponents easily. ---
**Author:** ![Edible\_Hat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@Edible\_Hat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edible_Hat)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190/92 "2017-07-14T23:17:10Z")
Who would be his running mate? Kamala Harris comes immediately to mind: young, black, attractive, from the West, (perceived as more) centrist. She would balance out the ticket wonderfully. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190/93 "2017-07-14T23:24:38Z")
She is actually listed as being more liberal than Al Franken. I’d want to look at a governor, like Hickenlooper or Bullock, both known for being more moderate and pragmatic. That way you’re covering that base and the ‘prior executive experience’ card. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190/94 "2017-07-14T23:34:53Z")
> [@Edible\_Hat](#): > > Who would be his running mate? Kamala Harris comes immediately to mind: young, black, attractive, from the West, (perceived as more) centrist. She would balance out the ticket wonderfully. San Francisco Politician. (This is bad if you dont know) ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190/95 "2017-07-15T00:02:15Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > Trump has never had a positive net approval rating in his life. He is currently at about- 16. Really, the more you post in this thread, the more you reveal that you have no business doing so. …you don’t own this thread. You don’t own this messageboard. You can’t tell me that I have no business posting here. If you don’t want a great debate then don’t start threads in great debates. > [@](#): > > Obviously, there’s not a direct correlation between net approval rating and winning elections. Bernie had a higher NAR than Hillary, but Hillary won because she did better among that large group of Democrats who viewed BOTH of them favorably. Then Hillary had a higher NAR than Trump, but lost because Trump won the group of voters who disliked BOTH of them. You should have left it at “there’s not a direct correlation between net approval rating and winning elections.” > [@](#): > > So his 80% approval rating among Democrats doesn’t mean that he is a cinch to win the nomination, but it does conclusively rebut the assertion that there is “too much animosity” toward him among the Party base for him to be a strong candidate. He might be a “strong” candidate. But he is actively loathed by a great many democrats who simply won’t come out to vote if he is the nominee. Bernie’s campaign ignored their voices, marginalised them, and in the end [they simply didn’t come out and vote for him.](http://fusion.kinja.com/how-bernie-sanders-lost-black-voters-1793860129) And if the democrats ignore these people, focusing on getting the white “middle of the road” voter, then they aren’t going to come out to vote in the next election. They won’t vote for Trump. They will simply stay home. This quote says it all: “the white vote, the staffers said, was the campaign’s priority.” And there is nothing in Bernie’s words nor deeds since 2016 that show that anything will change. > [@](#): > > NAR is a much more sensible way to assess electability than asking “who is your very favorite politician”, because voters don’t just pick a single candidate and stick with him or her no matter what, they choose from among the pool of acceptable candidates and often switch depending on how the campaign is going. You are trying to assess electability now? 3 and a half years before the next election? When exactly zero other people have thrown their hats into the ring? There are only two people campaigning at the moment. Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. When the campaign actually gets going then we might have something to discuss. > [@](#): > > Last point, of course Bernie does well in those polls partly because he has high name recognition. Why do you imply that that somehow invalidates the polls? The steps to winning elections are getting people to recognize your name, getting them to like you, then getting them to actually vote for you. Why would you not think that a candidate who has already successfully completed the first two steps has a huge advantage over one who hasn’t?! I’m not claiming the polls are “invalidated.” I’m stating that the poll results at the moment are utterly meaningless. Plenty of people know Bernie’s name. And plenty of people curse his name. If you think that Bernie is the best candidate to run against Trump you simply haven’t spent enough time listening to the voices of the people that he and his campaign ignored during 2016. You haven’t heard enough from the people who the Bernie Bros attacked and that Bernie and his campaign did little to denounce. There are plenty of people who are not as divisive as Bernie who would be fantastic candidates for the presidency. I’ve named my pick. There are plenty of others. ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190/96 "2017-07-15T00:11:20Z")
I just think it’s somewhat sad that the people routinely mentioned as front-runners for the Democratic nod are so damn old. Sanders is 75, Biden is 74. Warren is a relative baby at 68. And of course on the other side, Trump is 71. Add 3-4 more years onto those ages by the time we get to 2020, and, ugh. We really need some young blood in these races. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190/97 "2017-07-15T00:32:32Z")
Much agreed. The Dems desperately need people in their 40’s and 50’s to step up. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190/98 "2017-07-15T00:33:13Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > While I personally knew some Bernie-bros who were guilty of that, I think a good proportion of those posts were started by Russian operatives. And how many Russian operatives do you know? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190/99 "2017-07-15T01:30:55Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Personally, I doubt it. He’s old now. Who knows how he’ll be in 3 more years? As it is, he looks and talks like those guys in the theater box in The Muppet Show. I think if there is still a septuagenarian in the White House in 2020, youth will be an advantage in that campaign. The Democratic bench is deep, I’d prefer that the nomination went to someone who has been a committed Democrat for some time and not a Bernie-come-lately. The Democratic bench is POTENTIALLY deep for 2024. There’s a lot of attractive young stars, but as with the GOP bench from 2010, some of them will turn out to be totally useless. And there’s pretty much no one under the age of 70 who is both ready for prime time and who the Democratic base gives a darn about. I guess I can’t trash the Dems for being the party of celebrities anymore given what my party just did, but it’s still true that if a candidate is well qualified by not “exciting”, that Democratic voters won’t support him or her. That leaves some old warhorses and some young, unready prospects. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190/100 "2017-07-15T13:28:52Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > Well, as per the Vox article, he does seem to have been downplaying his environmentalism, which doesn’t thrill me personally, but again supports the case that he is preparing to run again. > > I think this will be a very different race from 2016, when Clinton had basically locked up the support of the entire party elite years before voting started. I think it will look more like the 2016 GOP race, with multiple candidates vying for the “centrist/establishment” lane. In contrast, I doubt any other serious progressive is going to run if Bernie is in the race. If it’s not a two-way race, mid 40s is a very good place to be. I don’t know if that’s true, though. A lot of democrats wanted Joe Biden to run and thought it would be the Democratic party’s own healthy competition. As it turned out, Biden’s son died and he didn’t have the stomach for a race. Nobody took Sanders seriously. Nobody took Trump seriously. When it does finally become apparent what a shit show the Trump presidency is, I doubt you will see much support for unconventional candidates. There will again be a time when people realize, “Okay, maybe politics isn’t the reality TV show we thought it was and maybe governance actually does require some brains and competence.” I like a lot of what Bernie Sanders stands for and I would obviously take him over someone like Trump and even most republicans. But my support for him doesn’t really go much beyond some of his platform. If he ever did somehow get elected and was left with the responsibility of actually running the country, I think he’d be an epic disaster. Things like, say, “the fight for $15” and free college for all are cute slogans but they don’t comport with economic reality; they just fire people up in the same way that Trump did when he said he’s gonna bring back coal and steel to the Rust Belt. And yet the moment a “centrist” starts pushing back on these and questioning whether they’ll work, he’s smeared as some kind of political whore who does the corporate world’s bidding. I actually want a candidate who has connections to Wall Street or at least shows an interest in working with them to resolve banking problems. I’d be very, very worried about someone who didn’t, either. At the same time, this person needs to have a Teddy Roosevelt resolve and ability to drive a grassroots movement. People talk about how powerful Wall Street, Big Pharma, and telecoms have become, but many of our problems have been caused by general apathy and disconnectedness from everyday politics. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-bernie-sanders-the-democratic-front-runner-for-2020/791190.md?page=6)